Wednesday, February 27, 2008

For Akbar's Sake ,Please...............

So after an eventful sunday , on which i wasted the whole day on a doomed movie , did not have the courage and the will to write a review on JODHA AKBAR. Feeling priveleged that SAURAV has decided to contribute to my blog , by pening down the ordeal we all suffered on a fateful sunday. So here goes the review.................. thanks to Saurav once again

I couldn’t recall last where I had been let down so much. All the hype and hoopla surrounding Jodhaa Akbar had fizzed out in a 3:30 hrs ordeal.
Wondering what Mr. Gowariker could have done differently, I was in a fix!!
Hrithik hadn’t let us down yet again. He is one of those guys who will give up his 100% , no matter how substandard the script is, remember the string of flops that followed Kaho na pyaar , there wasn’t one film where the boy faltered.
Ash was her usual self ..’’All handwriting and no content”( Mahesh Bhatt in one of the umpteen interviews on television). Although, I guess we appreciate her that way. But age/marriage seems to have taken a toll on her,
boys- figure it thats out that for yourself!!
There wasn’t any problem with Ashutosh’s direction either.
Well quite clearly there wasn’t enough meat in the story.
A poor script!! Mr Gowariker had never faltered in this area of film making before.
To put the record straight,
But for the grandeur and scale , it would have been a soap opera running for at least
1000 eposides.
Hey did Ekta Kapoor pounce on that idea!!
A grumpy mother in law played by a hapless Ila Arun, well we never knew she could act also!!
A marriage of compromise and subsequent saas – bahu “nok-jhoks”.
Remember that salubrious meal, it already had few lips reaching out for it,
Anand and Vikas suddenly had their stomachs doing a “Ding a Dong…
The director started with a noble cause but somewhere he seemed to have lost the track. The war scenes were presented with panache, but hey hold on!! There was hardly any fact to the story…
What is the fuss that these Rajputs are trying to create when there was hardly any fact or to put it simply…
It was fiction all the way with doses of History interspersed here and there!!
The producers seemed to have cashed on the name of Akbar…Well its paying dividend too!!…The movie is running to nearly packed horses all over the country.
Ever thought where to spend your dad’s 80 bucks in case u plan for this movie ..
I have a few suggestions for u..
To start with .. A laconic bargain with one of the college side vendors for a high octane Novel , and I would have my food and fodder for the next few days.
A HOT Cappuccino with Miss Wadhwa ( subject to permission from her bhaiya!!)..Stop dreaming, u idiot!!
Yeah, how do I miss out on those humorous anecdotes by Vikas, perhaps the only saving grace of the film.
DISCLAIMER: Those jokes were purely Non-Veg!!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

IPL:The great indian circus

so ...20th feb was a historic day for indian cricket , when the corporate honchos splurged cash as if liquor was flowing all around the HILTON towers in mumbai (may be vijay mallaya's presence had some influence).At the end of the 10 hour CIRCUS (yes ,it was this only) ....and after spending 160 crores ... the likes of preity zinta , shahrukh khan ....justified there new found love for the game of CRICKET......(preity even remembered the 76 runs yuvi had scored on feb 19 )......:)...Now they may all be banking on the euphoria of india's 20-20 world cup win last September....but seriously ,there seems to be no logic on the kind of cash they have spent.

First the concept of IPL is somewhat flawed, they are banking on the city loyalty of supporters to help promote the league.Let's assume it may come true , though its highly unlikely .....i would never support brett lee knocking the stumps out , when sachin tendulkar is batting , no matter if lee is in my team ....but lets accept some morons ....passionately follow their cities , then would the live telecast attract only the city loyalists ?? ...This question seems to have no answers ... it's like a double edge sword to me .........

Second .... the way players were auctioned ... it was as if some commodity auction was going on at the chrsitie's or the sothebey's ...how can one treat players like that....they have some preferences ... on their price , for which city they want to play for ...but lalit modi's dream baby seemed to forget all these aspects and only concentrated on the moolahaaa.......

Third , some of the selections made mere even mind bobbling .....ricky ponting getting less than the one match (some 10 ball wonder ) manoj tiwari......, what was the rational for such selections ..if they went for marketing .....then it would have been better for the franchisees to select film stars instead of cricketers....They would amassed more money for them......because cricketing skills were not the criteria for selection..........There are some more issues which make it's viability somewhat circumspect... what if they never get a clear window for the IPL , then it would become a domestic 20-20 championship of local indian players. without international stars , you won't be able to find 80 odd domestic cricketers of the level and quality desired to attract the crowds..............

They want to follow the EPL model , but they seem to have forgotten that teams in EPL play all around , IPL will just last for 50 odd days ........football world cup comes in four years ...where as the nine test playing nations have a regular playing schedule all around the year...so the notion of associating players and fans with the city is highly unlikely....and the last point of contention is the format 20-20 ..it's like pyjama cricket to me ...with all hype and little substance.. it cannot produce the drama that sydney test produced....the verbal banter between the players ... three wickets in an over by michael clarke .......so spectators who seriously follow cricket ...and appreciate its quality would never accept this format........

BCCI and corporate world seems to be riding around 1.7 billion dollars on the back of the , fluke win in the 20-20 world cup final...all the best to them....but i see little light at the end of the TUNNEL.